Christine Smallwood on the legacy of John Updike’s Couples, “500 pages of people demonstrating again and again that they are incapable of turning down an invitation to a party at which they are guaranteed to have a bad time.” | Bookforum

“Poetry—which awakens our senses, frees us from the tyranny of literal meaning and assures us of the credible reality of emotional truth—puts us in touch with something bigger than language. . .” Read a speech delivered by Tracy K. Smith at the Library of Congress. | The Washington Post